17th C. Thomas Clagett, Jr. Memorial Clinic and Regatta - Day 1

Sailors racing at the 17th C. Thomas Clagett, Jr. Memorial Clinic and Regatta where greeted by Newport with a soggy start for day one of racing.

After a briefing with the race committee, the three classes racing, the 2.4mR, Martin 16 and Sonars headed for the course set for the 2.4mR and Martin 16 fleets between Rose and Goat Islands and the Sonars racing North of the Pell Bridge off the Navy War College. Conditions served up were a variable 10-12 knot Northerly breeze.

In the 11 boat 2.4mR fleet the Canadian sailors dominated the day with 2018 Clagett Boat Grant program recipient Siobhan MacDonald from Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada moving in to the top spot after the three races. Following closely behind her are fellow Canadians Peter Eager (Toronto, ON) and Peter Wood (Ottawa, Ontario).

"My new boat is phenomenal and definitely affected my results. I feel like I am now equipment equivalent to the rest of the fleet now, which is really tight. This is my fourth Clagett regatta and by far my best results. I've been doing crewed sailing with my collegiate team and I've been applying a lot of what I have learnt to the single handed sailing in the 2.4mR. Conditions today with the 8-10knots was my preferred weather window for my personal sailing," commented MacDonald after racing today.

Martin 16 sailors finished the day with Californian Carwile LeRoy (Fresno, Cali.) from the BAADS program leading the class from Allan Fiske (Fort Meyers, Fla.) and Pauline Dowell (Boston, Mass.) in third going in to day two tomorrow. LeRoy, who is a first time Clagett sailor, was at The Clagett in 2018 as a judge in training. "Being here as a judge in 2018 helped me to decide to come back as a competitor this year. I sailed in Newport 30 years ago at the Shake A Leg program and last time I was in a Martin 16 was about eight years ago. My plan for tomorrow is more of the same," said LeRoy after his post racing debrief.

Sonars raced three races and 2016 Rio Paralympian silver medalist Rick Doerr (Clifton, N.J.) and his crew of Dawn Hart (Tampa,Fla.) and Charles McClure (Brookline, Mass.) lead the four boat fleet by one point from Chicago team Gary Pierce (Chicago,Ill.) Patrick LoDuca (Chicago,Ill) and Jeff Long (Newport, R.I.).

Hart, who is a graduate of the Warrior Sailing Program, last sailed with Doerr at The Clagett in 2018 commented after racing, "We got back into the groove pretty quickly today, I've moved from the bow to trimming the main sheet. We've all been doing our own sailing since 2018 and I last raced at the Robie Pierce Regatta last month finishing in third place in the women's division. We sailed in the IDEAL which I sail in St. Pete when I'm home."

Principal Race Officer Tom Duggan (East Sandwich, Mass.) is expecting the forecast for tomorrow to start out at approximately 10 knots from the North West and building later in the day. He is hoping to get four races in for all three classes.